4 reasons I use cash instead of a credit card (& a giveaway!)

People are often quite surprised to find out I’ve never had a credit card. In fact, sometimes, they have to ask three times just to be sure they heard me correctly:

“So you’ve never had a credit card?” they ask incredulously.

“Nope,” I respond.

“Like ever?”

“Right, never,” I reiterate.

“Not even when you were younger—ten years ago or something?” They continue to quiz.

“No, really and truly, I’ve never had a credit card,” I reply, again.

Usually people just end up looking at me aghast like I’m from some other planet or something. That’s okay, I’ve gotten used to the fact that I’m weird.

But you know what I’ve also never had? Credit card debt.

Yes, it’s true. There’s a brilliant and guaranteed way to avoid credit card debt: just don’t get a credit card in the first place. It works—every single time!

I’ve never had to worry about how I’m going to pay off the credit card bill that’s coming due. I’ve never had to hassle with being harassed by credit card companies because my payment was late. And I’ve never had to dread opening up a credit card bill to see how large it was.

We have a policy at our house: if we can’t pay cash for it, we don’t buy it. It’s a plain and simple policy, but it’s saved us a boatload of debt, fights over money, and stress about our finances.

Sure, it has meant we’ve gone without a lot of different things we wanted over the years because we didn’t have money to pay for it. But truthfully, I’ll take the peace and freedom that comes from living without credit card debt over all the bling and stuff. It’s worth more than money can buy, anyway.

Do I think credit cards are evil? Well, I wouldn’t go so far to say they are wrong or immoral, but I would say that I’d strongly encourage anyone who is currently swiping plastic on a regular basis to step back and consider a few things:

1. Using cash keeps you from over-spending.

Yes, cash can burn a hole in your pocket and you can blow it. But here’s the thing: if you only use cash, when the money’s gone, it’s gone.

You either learn to pace yourself and your spending so that you have enough money to buy groceries at the end of the month, or you go without buying groceries. I promise that if you don’t have any grocery money to spend the last week of the month, you’ll probably think a lot more carefully the next month when you’re tempted to spend all your grocery cash during the first few weeks of the month.

2. Using cash forces you to evaluate your purchases.

When you use cash, you can’t mindlessly swipe a card—you have to pull green bills out and hand them over. It doesn’t take a month for the purchase to show up on your credit card bill; the pain of purchase is immediate.

This direct correlation can give you a much better grasp on your finances and on where your money is going. And it will probably also cause you to step back and carefully evaluate each purchase.

3. Using cash prevents you from betting on the future.

So many people say, “I treat my credit card like cash and always pay off my credit card bill in full at the end of each month.” That sounds great—in theory. But very few people are truly treating their credit card like cash.

Unless, before you make a purchase, you set aside the full amount of money to cover the purchase in a separate account and never touch that money until you pay your credit card bill, you are not truly treating your credit cards like cash. If you don’t have the money set aside for the full credit card bill, what happens if you lose your job tomorrow or you have a major financial crisis that puts you in a big bind?

By using the bank’s money or store credit to pay for your purchases, you are presuming that you are going to have enough money to pay the bill when it comes. And if you don’t, you could end up getting hit with high interest payments on top of the money you owe.

4. Using cash guarantees you never have to pay anyone back.

When you pay with cash, you can’t buy something unless you have enough money to pay for it. This often means you have to work hard, scrimp, and save up to make a purchase. This process of scrimping and saving can be grueling, but the satisfaction of exercising self-discipline and waiting to buy something with your own hard-earned money is every bit worth it in the long run.

And you know the best part about paying with cash? You never have to worry about paying anyone back. When you buy something, it’s yours—free and clear!

Want to learn more about living a plastic-free life? Check out chapter 4 of my book, The Money Saving Mom®’s Budget, where I tackle the common arguments as to why credit cards trump cash, and challenge you to at least try the three-month cash-only challenge. If it doesn’t work for you, you can always go back to the cards. But it just might completely revolutionize your life and finances in radical ways.

Giveaway time

This giveaway is now closed.
Crystal is giving away ten copies of her book to Simple Mom readers! Here’s how to win a copy:

1. Leave a comment on this post, telling me what you’d do with a $100 bill that mysteriously appears in your pocket. (If you’re reading this via email, you must click over to the post to comment.)

2. For an additional entry, tweet about this giveaway, mentioning both @simplemom and @moneysavingmom, and including a link to this post. Your tweet could look something like this:

Head over to @simplemom to win a copy of @moneysavingmom’s new book! #giveaway http://lvsm.pl/wP3gsj

Then come back here and leave an additional comment telling me you tweeted.

3. For another additional entry, “like” both Simple Mom and Money Saving Mom on Facebook, then come back here and leave a comment telling me you did so. (You don’t have to mention the giveaway on Facbeook, but you’re certainly welcome to!)

This giveaway will end Saturday night (tomorrow), and I’ll announce the winner soon after. I hope you win!

January 20, 2012

Encouragement for living simpler, right in your inbox.

We share our stories as we simplify our lives - no guilt-trips, just love:

Reader Interactions

Comments

Given that it’s hubby’s slow time of year (he’s self employed), it would very possibly go for gas or groceries. Otherwise, I’d probably use it to pay on my camera (that I charged!). I sure need this book.

At the moment, it would likely go to dog food, cat food, and possibly a pair of slippers if I’m good. I’m conveniently living on a ranch where we do not have to pay rent or utilities, because one of us works for our home. But I am unemployed and a starving artist.

We do our best to make ends meet, but mostly that means going without more and more. I actually started going with the no shampoo, no conditioner routine to both, save money and to save my hair since it’s become this awful combination of greasy and dry at the same time.

I found your site on a whim, looking for ways to fix my hair and not spend a fortune on some extremely gnarly shampoo and conditioner. I’ve been reading a lot here and on the sites you link to in an attempt to hopefully, make my life simpler and easier.

Sierra, You have a great spot for inspiration, information and encouragement towards a simpler, more fulfilling life. I would also highly recommend a couple of great books that are life changing: Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way or The Creative Call by Janice Elsheimer (more biblically based). They are tremendous for changing the way you look at what you do, your purpose, and especially that you don’t need to be a starving artist. Good luck in your journey to a better life!

How are you supposed to build up your credit in order to do something like buy a house if you’ve never owned a credit card? Don’t get me wrong; I definitely don’t advocate paying interest on your purchases. I have several credit cards, and I always pay the entire bill when it’s due. It’s just a matter of planning ahead and being aware of what you can and cannot spend over time.

Although my husband and I had already taken out a mortgage by the time I was reading these articles, they’ve inspired us to work with gazelle intensity to pay it off. It’s been amazing watching years and thousands of dollars worth of interest fall away and humbling to see what we’ve already paid in interest in just 3 years.

I don’t mean to be argumentative, but financially, it may make more sense to invest your money wisely depending on your mortgage interest rate. We just bought our first home, and the mortgage rate is only 3.5%. If we spend the next 30 years investing our savings at an average return of anything greater than 3.5% (which is not that difficult), then we will make money in interest that we can do whatever we choose with by patiently paying our mortgage. I appreciate the simplicity of paying off a mortgage so you don’t have to worry about it. However, you are also losing out on other opportunities by doing so.

But you’re not factoring in risk. Dave Ramsey always asks, “Would you take out equity in your house to invest?” Of course, everyone always answers no with a laugh. He then says, “Well, it’s the same thing in reverse.” That hits home the point.

Anytime you are paying interest, you are throwing money away. Are you really earning more interest than you are paying? My husband and I closely reviewed all of our investments and found overall that it was better for us to reduce the intererst we are paying on our mortgage by refinancing than to continue to “save” in our other investments. We discovered that by reducing our monthly mortgage payment, it saved us hundreds of dollars each month. Way more than we were “saving” on our other investments. I’d encourage you to take a look and see how much you truly are earning in interest on your savings and investment accounts.

My husband and I have never used a credit card, yet we have established credit. We’ve used a car loan and cell phones to build our credit. While applying for a home loan which we qualified for, a banker told me the only way we could raise our credit score was with credit cards. But he also warned that most people don’t use their credit cards properly to raise their credit. He said that even one credit card application lowers one’s credit score. Also, using more than a third of one’s available credit lowered the score. He alsopointed out that since our score was already fairly high, a credit card wouldn’t help once we took out a home loan.

An extra $100 would be fun money to be spent on something personal and luxurious – some lovely yarn to knit up, a massage, a fancy meal with my husband.

I would love to hear how you handle things like renting a car, reserving a hotel room or buying airplane tickets without a credit card. I suppose you can use a debit card, but this post implies that there is “no plastic” involved.

I don’t use my credit card much and at this point in my life I have enough money in the bank or in various investments to cover all of our debts (an occasional credit card bill and the balance on our mortgage), so we truly do use our credit cards like cash.

But there is a convenience in purchasing for travel, especially international travel, with a card so the hotel room we are expecting is kept for our late arrival or our tickets are paid for when we have found the flights we want to take.

I agree. I travel internationally a lot and credit cards have extra protections when purchasing plane tickets and hotel rooms. I used to work at a PR firm that handled Chapter 11 cases … remember a few years back when airline companies went out of business? If you purchased your ticket with a credit card you were fine, but if you used cash (aka debit card), you were out of luck. Lost your money and your plane ticket.

Oddly enough, I’ve discovered that using cash is more of a problem for me. Generally, I use my debit card for everything. So I’m not racking up any debt with my purchases but, at the end of the month, the bank has a record of exactly how much I spent and where I spent it. My husband uses this record to track our finances. So, yes dear, I did spend $$ when we went to the zoo and $$$ on groceries that day. But cash . . . Well, we live in Japan so every other week or so I have to go to the ATM to get some yen for purchases out in town. And once it’s out of the ATM, there’s no record of where I spent it. So, at the end of the month, DH looks at me and says, “You pulled $$$ in yen out of the account, where’d it go?” “Ummm, the farmer’s market and some clothes for the kids, and . . . maybe some ice cream?” I find that I don’t feel I’m really accountable for where I’ve spent the cash.

As for the $100, I’d just stick it in savings. Eventually it would probably end up being spent on books for myself or the kids.

I know what you mean, hitting up the ATM anytime I needed extra cash killed me in college. However, having a couple hundred dollars in an envelop labeled “groceries” that I can’t refill until next month…wow that has kept me seriously accountable and made me much less wasteful. You might try doing something similar with your “around town” money. Decide on an amount at the beginning of the month and don’t refill it until next month : )

These days credit cards are giving more and more facilities and rewards point, because of this we all are living our life with a plastic money. we do carry a lots of card in our wallets but not cash, cash give us a lot of security and to evaluate .
A great post keep posting

Ooh $100 could go pretty far for me…maybe some new fabric and notions for some sewing projects I am dying to do?…maybe a used freezer for our garage? (Our inside freezer is FILLED with breast milk-what to do with it all???)…maybe for ONCE I could buy myself something nice like some awesome shoes? Ooh this list could be endless. BTW, would LOVE to read this book! We are working hard to pay off our debt and get away from all the plastic!

I certainly agree strongly with the cash idea. I grew up (in Japan) just using cash and it makes total sense to me.
I’d put $100 into our savings account for now and will use it for something that will come up after our first child is born end of this month!

$10 would go for a tithe first. The rest would be split between paying bills and savings. I’d like to use that for some special something for myself but right now, with times the way they are, that’s not practical or smart.

I would use it to pay off my credit card bill 😀 Few weeks ago I canceled my credit card and now paying off the debt. It will be paid off by June at the latest, so any extra would go to having it paid earlier.

I was going to say that I’d spend it on books – but then I saw someone mentioned a Kindle and yes, THAT is what I would spend it on now. This is because we are planning a move overseas sometime this year and I figure that a Kindle is now the best way to go – as well as keeping our home simple! Yay for simple!! :o) BTW, thanks Tsh – reading your books has done us a world of good! PTL! Would love to read your book, Crystal – I’m ALWAYS up for learning more on this subject! And we love being credit card free.

If I found $100 cash, I would use it for mad money. I rarely use cash and $100 would last a long time as I would only use it when I can’t use my credit card… vending machines, money for the kids, chip in for gifts, etc.
I am one of those rare people who treats credit cards like cash and I always make sure my checking account has enough money to cover the credit card bills. All my extra money goes into various savings account earmarked for specific things…vacation fund, emergency fund, kids accounts, etc.

I prefer credit cards over cash so I can keep track of my spending and even save by using rewards points.

Great book I would love to win. Definitely need to take that credit card out of my wallet! It’s something my husband and I have spoken about so starting next month we will be drawing cash for expenses! What I would do with $100? Well in SA that could go quite far… I would probably use it to treat my husband and I to a weekend away sans kids in April to celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary!

I’ve never had credit card debt, I pay mine off every month. I use it a lot though because I get points for doing so and then vouchers to shops – so every few months I ‘order’ my £20-50 worth of vouchers to a grocery store and I’m happy

And if I found a $100 note, I’d have to take to the bank and I’d get back only about 65£ so I’d just stick it in my wallet to use for lunches and coffees

I live in Africa, and using cash is our only option 95% of the time! It feels different that spending US dollars though (kind of like spending monopoly money). I would save the $100 and spend it on a massage/manicure/pedicure as soon as we get back to the US in the fall!

Develop pictures! In the day of digital I’m sure I’m not alone. I’m not much of a scrapbooker, but I still love to look at pictures in chronilogical order in a nice album. I have no idea why I wait until I have over 400 pictures before developing. It’s overwhelming-costly and time-consuming. This year I’ve resolved to do so every few months at least.

Any extra money I found right now would go towards a mini-vacation we are taking before my hubby deploys to Afghanistan. While he is away I’m
Using his extra pay and savings from fuel and feeding him to getting rid of our credit balances. They get a tax free lump sum at the end of tour and we are going to buy a newer car with that as we’ve only just finished paying credit on one that died last year (my parents loaned us a car this last year or so). I never want to be in that situation again. It’s time to stop paying the banks all our money and start saving for our future as we will need to buy a house in 5-10years when hubby leaves the army and it’s a scary prospect right now.

Right now … I would add it to my the money I’m saving for a new computer … I almost have enough too – I’m waiting to add the last $100 from my next pay this coming week to put towards it too, lol!! My current computer is circa 2002 and is consistently not being helpful, lol! I am using ‘old’ software and am constantly having troubles when sending through my assignments for uni .. often I have to copy it to a USB .. take said USB to a friends’ more ‘current’ computer and ‘save as’ a more up-to-date version of it per software … then send it through via their computer as mine doesn’t ‘read’ the updated document, lol! … I’m looking forward to my new apple arriving at the beginning of next week — I’ve been saving for it since mid-last year (small budget, single mum)!!

What would I do with $100? I’d like to put it in our vacation kitty.
With the exception of our mortgage we are debt free. I’d love to share this book with my daughter and her husband. They have been married a few years and would glean great information from it, I’m sure. Thanks!

Usually when I find money in a coat or purse I haven’t used in awhile I usually hide it in my wallet until I really need it for something. My son is turning 10 soon so maybe I would spend it on gifts or a party for him.

Oooh and extra $100 in my pocket would definitely mean stocking up on grass fed beef and pastured chickens. Since those extra $100’s don’t often appear though, I’ve really learned how to make a pound of meat stretch : )

With $100 in my pocket, I would by groceries for my family of 5. We cut out the junk food and I try to make as much as I can home made, not boxed. So, extra grocery money is always helpful for the weekly runs to the store for milk & produce.

We already do a version of the cash envelope system Dave Ramsey style, which is a far cry from using debit & credit for everything. It’s been almost a year and already has positively impacted our finances in many ways.

If I had an extra $100, I’d put it in my “new furniture” envelope because we are moving into a new house next month and have a few extra rooms to furnish.

I haven’t put the credit cards away for good yet but I’m working on it. I do a lot of babysitting and I get paid in cash. I have one of those coupon organizers and each tab has an activity (either the kids or mine) and the amount I have to pay monthly. I divide the cash up between the tabs and try to only use that to pay for those extras. If I had an extra $100 mysteriously appear I might take out $20 for a manicure but the rest would probably go towards swimming or ballet lessons.

Would love to read this book. We are on a cash system, but still have questions. If I found $100, I would either put towards our college debt (almost done with it) or put in our “next car” fund. We will be paying I cash! Yay! Enjoyed reading your post! Thanks for sharing.

Funny, this really happened to me one time. I found a $100 bill in a parking lot! That year my husband was out of work and we used it for Christmas gifts and food. Now, I am having a hard time coming up with an answer. I’d have to tuck it away until I had time to decide the best use for it.

If I found a mysterious $100, I would stash it away in my secret place. Thats what I do with any money I find anywhere in the house and some day I will either have something I really want to buy with it, or I will desperately need it and it will be there waiting!

Great post! If $100 magically appeared, I would stick half of it in my snowflakes, the other half I would use to buys Crystal’s book for my DL and two sisters. I want to share all the great insight with them!

I’m totally going against the grain here but we use our credit card for everything. Rarely do my husband or I have cash on us. We’ve never purchased anything we couldn’t afford, nor do we over-purchase. We pay our card off monthly. We chose a card that gives us cash back (one without all the strings attached) and because we put nearly everything on our card, we get several hundred, if not thousand, back every year. And it makes it easier to track what we spend our money on. I know this doesn’t work for everyone but only using cash wouldn’t work for us.

1–If I lose my wallet, I can just cancel my cards–no money lost.
2–My husband can track my spending through our online statements (i.e. more accountability)
3–Credit card rewards (We have earned over $2000 in cash and gift cards to places like Amazon and Wal-Mart in the past 12 months)–this is my #1 reason
4–Less hassle–Faster check-out at the store, no trips to the ATM, if something I always buy (Cheerios, chicken, toilet paper, etc.) is on sale I can stock up on the spot

I think this article is good food for thought, but I hate how cash is always viewed as the smarter, wiser, best money-saving way and that is just not the case. You need to know what kind of person you are (like if you’re responsible with money or not), evaluate both sides, and come to a decision that is best for your family. (We have never failed to pay our balance each month in the 7 1/2 years we have been married. We have the money in our checking and it is automatically withdrawn each month.)

If I found $100 in my pocket, I would put it in my envelope for “home improvements” and I’d look in my other pockets for other money and then I’d go buy some new kitchen cabinet pulls and handles. (we have been all cash for one year now. It’s working great for us!)

I disagree with your point about paying off a card every month. I do it, and I have enough cash reserves that I could’ve paid cash. Using a card helps me track where my money goes–the transactions appear automatically in my (free) Mint account. That helps me manage my budget. When I pay cash, I lose track. Sure, I could sort all my receipts or write a log, but my system is a lot less work. Plus I get rebates from the credit card company itself. And I spend almost no time at banks and ATMs.

I like your point about living on the money you’ve already earned, but I think you took it too far.

We have a farmer’s market near our house that recently opened. We go and have fun but do a lot of window(booth) shopping. If I had to spend this money, I would use a bit of the money there and stock up. Even with this splurge, I would have extra money so I would use on Valentine’s Day gifts for the teachers at my son’s school.

I would use the $100 to stock up on a few grocery items in bulk – oats, flour, honey, yeast, and then probably some diapers and baby wipes. And if there were any left over, there’s a gorgeous black and white striped sweater I’ve had my eye on for awhile now waiting for a sale.

If I found a $100 bill, $10 of it would go to our church. Then $90 would be put toward our debt snowball. We are working hard to pay of my college debt by next October. We too believe that Cash is King!

$100 cash … my “shopping fix” happens at yard sales. So, the surprise money would go in my envelope purposed for that and I would stretch it as far as I possibly could with great deals on things that other folks were getting rid of!!!

I would probably put it towards our new carpet fund! We quit the credit card game about 1 year ago and now save cash for big (and small) purchases. The carpet fund is a slow growing one though, even with the pay from my second job going directly to it!

Love this article and reinforces everything we learned the hard way. we have been credit card free for 3 years and it can be challenging, but we wouldn’t go back. An extra $100 – I think we’d pay down some medical bills from the kids and maybe treat them to a movie and ice cream.

Hmm, a free $100… To be honest, it would probably go toward a new stash of lovely fabric.

I like this post even though I happen to be one of those people mentioned in #3 who pay off a card every month. 😉 I have a bunch of ING accounts, one for each budget category (food, car, etc.) and at the end of the month I tally up what’s been charged from each category and transfer the amounts to my main account. Then I pay off my card and collect my rewards points. It sounds a bit complex, but it has really streamlined things for us.

While I’d like to say, go shopping, my hubby and I have a “What if…” plan in place for those times we are given extra money. It’s the same percentages no matter the amount. We call it our Windfall Plan: 10% to church, 10% to spend however we want, 20% to Emergency Fund, 20% extra towards our house principal, 20% Saving for Long Term Home Projects, and 20% toward our retirement accounts.

i’m a major fan of cash only…my husband is as fanatical as i am about it. but we have lived without debt (minus the mortgage) for several years and now. i don’t carry around a credit card although we have one in the house. i see no purpose since we have an emergency fund, but my husband likes to have one on hand.

if $100 turned up in my wallet and i’d treat the family to a night out to dinner and movie since i don’t have to apply it to credit card debt

Ha…with an extra $100 I’d put gas in my car and go for a drive! Maybe to a Costco. We live in the middle of the forest, 1/2 hour away from a small town and 2 hours away from real shopping…and we are snowed in. I’m lookin’ for an escape right now!!

we have had a few credit cards and they are only for medical emergency’s, like if we can’t afford our sons medication, it is more than we can afford each month, and we got the credit card just for that purpose. all our other credit cards were paid off and then we closed them. I don’t like having credit, but for my sons medication I feel it is beneficial to have one, but if we do have the money we just pay cash for it. Credit cards can get out of control, and if you are living beyond your means then they come in handy, but you can’t abuse them, and if you are living beyond your means then how would someone in that situation be able to pay off the credit card on time without cutting themselves short on another bill each month? what we do is we pay it as soon as we can by the next paycheck. It always works, but because we make it work, there is never a time to say well we can use it because I need new shoes, or anything like that. As long as we have food to eat, a home to live in, and cars to drive then we will continue to do things the way we have been to get by. I think its amazing that you have never had to have a credit card. I would love for that to be the case for us. I am hoping that won’t be the case much longer, I have started my own small business and am working hard to grow that and keep moving forward in life!

If I were to find $100…hmm…that is a hard one, but I would put $10 (10%) in our adoption fund (that is what we do with special “gifts”) and use the rest for a special splurge date with my husband!

I really appreciate your post! We just made the goal this year to go completely credit card-less (if that’s a word). We have a little bit of credit card debt and that is our only debt right now. We are working hard to retire that and live without ANY debt. When I called to cancel a credit card the lady on the other end of the phone was completely shocked that I didn’t want a credit card any more, even though I got rewards/% off purchases/etc. The concept of not having any credit cards seemed foreign to her. Thanks for the pointers and encouragement!

$100 huh? I think it would need to go into savings…I moved out on my own just over a year ago and would love to put a small amount of money into making the hand-me down furniture look a little bit more cohesive

tweeted! seriously considering the 30-day challenge. I’ve declared 2012 a year of change and am excited to try out a few new things this year…excited to see which ones work for me and all I’m sure to learn in the process

The problem is that Credit History doesn’t just affect your ability to get credit. Your insurance rates are based in part on your credit score. When a friend of mine was searching for a job two years ago, several of the places he interviewed with told him they couldn’t hire him because he had no credit history.

I honestly don’t know what I’d do with $100. We’ve worked hard to be in good financial shape right now – but we’re having another baby in June, so the $100 would probably go into savings and help let my husband take a bit more time off of work if it becomes necessary!

Love Crystal’s book. I had the opportunity to review it and have already begun implementing her strategy. Any extra cash is going toward our goal of saving for dressers for our girls. Thanks for the giveaway!

I love this article! I’m sharing on Facebook so everyone cam see We aren’t the only strange people that don’t use credit cards ;). We are expecting our 3rd child this summer so I’d probably put it towards baby items- maybe some new cloth diapers.

I understand all that about using cash but what I don’t understand is how do you order things online if you don’t have a credit card? How do you make reservations at a hotel? I know you travel at least for conferences and I bet you take a family vacation once a year or once every few years. I would sincerely like to know how you do that without a credit card.

I would add it to my Ipad fund that I have been slowly growing over the last few months by selling some ebay and craigslist items. I’m slowly getting there, with cash! Thanks for the giveaway, I LOVE both your sites and follow them regularly.

If I found a $100 mysteriously in my pocket, I would immediately turn it into my bank account and use it to pay a bill. Honestly, things aren’t going great for us financially, and I’m finally stepping up to set things straight. Not sexy, but a must-do.

I would likely use $30 for an extra date night for my husband and I and put the extra $70 into the savings we’re trying to build up. I like your website and have learned a lot about couponing and particularly about CVS deals.

It’s great that you haven’t ever used credit cards, but it is possible to use credit cards like cash. My husband and I have used credit cards for almost everything (we rarely use cash) in our 8 year marriage and have always had money in the bank to cover every cent we’ve spent. And in the last four months we’ve made over $100 in reward money.

I would add that $100 to our food budget. My husband wants me to feed a family of 6 (baby number 5 coming in June) on $400. (That’s food and toiletries) I keep running out of money before then end of the month.. We have $45 left for this month. We have company coming over for dinner this weekend and I want to fix a really nice meal for them but am worried about the budget.

I had to learn the hard way about this, but we don’t use credit cards either. We do have one, but my husband keeps it tucked away. It’s very liberating.
I’d love to say that I would do donate the money but honestly, I would put in my savings account for a special trip I’m planning for my eldest daughter and I. When she graduates, we want to go to Ireland and now that she’s a freshman, that savings account needs some growth!

I’d buy a new pair of snow boots- My 11 yr old outgrew his . So he took mine ( they are black snow mobile boots- not pink or flowered or anything) And he needs them to walk to the school bus. Dress boots with heels are NOT cutting it in the 10 inches of snow we have.

If I found an extra $100 in my pocket… well I might think they were someone else’s pants for a start!
But assuming they really WERE my pants lol… I reckon I would put it away, in my wallet/bag in an envelope in a hidey hole – for the real ‘rainy day’ stuff.

Be that a friend who’s short on cash and no idea how they’re going to put food on the table, be it needing to leave the house in an emergency in a hurry (fire, flood) – whatever. It would be there. I’ve accidentally forgotten about money I had in an envelope in my bag before (someone paid me back something I leant them ages ago and I forgot about it)… it was a real bonus to find when I was hunting for small change and found that instead

I would be so excited to find $100 in my pocket. I’d come up with all kinds of ideas about how to spend it (buy a book for myself or my kids, go out for lunch or dinner, or maybe get a manicure). But then the guilt would take over, and I’d end up using it for gas or groceries.

I’d add it to my TBA envelope. My husband and I both have a To Be Announced envelope. When we get a windfall or unexpected cash (sold a bike, birthday money, etc.) we put the money in the envelope and save it for a rainy day or something we don’t feel belongs in our family budget.

I would put the money into our savings account.
This idea of living without a credit card seems great, but I have only one question. How do you keep your all important credit rating up without a credit card?
We had to experience the hard way how it is living without a credit rate as we moved back to the US without any debt etc. but when it came to buying a car and a house we got dumped with the highest rates as we had no credit history.

I would use it as a little extra to put on my school loan. One of 2 things my hubby and I are working on paying off. It is a slow process (getting rid of debt) which we vowed never to get ourselves into again.

This would be great! If I had $100 suddenly land in my pocket, I honestly would just put it toward debt. I am trying to combat that right now. It’s just crazy how fast it can build up, even just using a debit card and not a credit card. I really need some help in the budgeting area and it’s my big goal for this year.

oh wow, I’ve heard of the all cash challenge but never new exactly how to go about it, I’de love to read this book! If I found a $100 in my pocket, I’de probably hold onto forever, just seeing it would be security. That’s what I did with the 50 dollar bill I found months ago. Its just sitting there, and I love to see it. Makes me feel like that’s 50 bucks I have complete control of and that is safe frombeing spent up in the bank account. Wierd I guess.
I would tweet this but I’ve never tweeted.

Seeing as I havent worked since may 2010, I would get gas or groceries with it. I am learning a very hard lesson about credit card debt…and believe me, when we get out of this giant debt “hole” and I am earning money again, we wont be going back to credit cards.

I would give the money to a family who is fundraising for an adoption. They need about $1000 for some agency fees very soon and they are currently doing a goat milk soap fundraiser. I’ll include their blog address if you would like to help this family out! I know every dollar adds up and if you aren’t interested in soap (although I’ve ordered it and it’s amazing), then would you consider donating $1 to help them out? http://milesoftheheart.blogspot.com/

We are all for using cash and our only debt is our home. We do have a CC, but pay it off at the end of each month.
I have a question, how do you go about renting a car, hotel room, purchasing items online, etc without a CC?

I actually have the answer to that… it was suggested by Dave Ramsey and it’s a great balance, especially for those who are weaker in resolve to be careful with their money. It’s called PerkStreet. It works like a CC, but it’s pre-paid (and you get a % back as cash). We simply have our bank push X amount of money per week (our budgeted amount) and then we can use it easily where we need to (it can be used as a debit card or a CC, but you only get % back when it’s used as a CC). You can never get into debt with it because it simply will only work for the money in the account. And if someome were to steal it… they can only steal the amount left in the account (and it’s not connected to your bank account, so there’s no risk there either).

Personally, for my business (graphic design and photography) I have no choice but to have a way to purchase things online (prints/products from my professional photo lab, computer parts, camera/lighting equipment, etc). Most of those places don’t offer a cash option. And I’m not willing to pay twice as much to shop at my local camera shop.

But there’s a trick to how I do it… Each time I make a business CC purchase I deduct it from my check register because it’s money already spent. Then when I pay my CC bill for the month there are no surprises. I know how much I can spend because I know the total in my account each time I do a transaction. That being said, I am uber careful what I spend (both personally and for my business). There is nothing, short of a medical emergency, that I am willing to go into debt for.

I’d save it. Since I’ve been using YNAB (You Need A Budget), it’s taught me to stop living paycheck to paycheck, budget everything and live on money from months ago. Really helpful. Having control of your finances is the best feeling in the world.

I would love to win! Sadly, I would use the $100 to pay off credit-card debt…. we are trying to live on 1 income for a year while I’m on maternity leave and it’s not going so well. For the first time ever, we have a credit-card balance. I’m thinking we need to go cash-only!

Well, I should probably say I’d save it, but instead I’d head over to Nordstrom Rack to combine it with my $40 gift card to get a purse I saw last week that I talked myself out of. (In my defense, it’s been at least 5 years since I got a new purse!)

I was thinking that I would probably put the $100 towards groceries and getting a good stockpile going again, but then I read another comment from someone who would use it for her mission trip. Much better plan ~ we also are going on a mission trip this spring, so I would put it toward those expenses!

I want to say that i would put it towards my debt….but to be honest I would hide it away and keep it for when my kids needed a little extra for something. Maybe i would do put $50 towards my debt and save $50 for my kids…..that is a better compromise. Oh…how nice it would be to find a $100 bill….hahaha.

I’m curious how do you shop online with only paying cash? I have 5 kids and I do a lot of shopping for our basic needs online to save time. I’m just curious about how one would do that only paying cash? Do you use pay pal as an exception?

If I have $100 cash appears in my pocket right now, I’d go ahead and pay my credit card bill, and get over with it. No more credit cards that’s our goal for this year. We pray, hope and take action (pay off bills).

I’ve never had a credit card either and I can’t ever see myself getting one. There’s nothing like having to hand over hard cash to put a value on something and for me to ask myself: ‘do I really need/want this?’
I’ve seen what chronic debt does to people and I worry enough already without having to worry about paying off debts.
If $100 ended up in my pocket, truly (not just saying this to make me appear ‘good’) I’d give it away to my friends who run a small NGO in Uganda (www.fingerprintsinuganda.org) – after changing it to £sterling!

Well, we are currently unemployed. So to be honest, if I found $100 bill, I would first do a happy dance and then would run upstairs and put it in the safe for when we are running low and need groceries.

My husband’s hours have been severely cut but here here how I would use an extra $100. I would give $10.00 to my church. I would give $40.00 to my husband for a tank of gas since his income has been drastically cut since before Christmas. I would send $20.00 to my son away at college who is in desperate need of some necessities and we don’t use credit (for almost 2 years now) and I would use $10.00 to buy “One Thousand Gifts” for a friend who needs to read it right now. The remaining twenty would go to food for us and for a copay at the dr. for my son who may have appendicitis. I pray God’s blessings on whoever recieves the books. I know those who most need it will recieve it. Perhaps in better days… I will get one. I could really use the tips in it now… but other things seem pressing at the moment as it was quite easy to figure out where it would go.

I have to say that I would probably tuck it away for a rainy day. We have just recently started the “cash only” lifestyle, and I know down the road something would pop up that I would love to buy, and it would be nice to have an extra $100 in the envelope with my spending money inside!!

I would put $20 towards buying supplies for the local homeless. (My older son and I make sack lunches for a shelter once a month. He helps me shop so we know how far $20 can go toward protein and fruit.) I would put $5 towards redbox family videos, $15 towards new cloth napkins from crate and barrel, $40 towards groceries, $20 towards a groupon certificate for pizza for when we have the “gang over.

An extra $100 would pay for gas so we could visit friends and family out of state. While my husband is in seminary our monthly gas budget only covers local driving. We’re a cash-only family thanks to Dave Ramsey, and like Crystal and lots of others – if we don’t have cash, we do without. I’d love to read the book for some more ideas and inspiration.

If I had an extra $100.00 I would give half to a couple at our ‘church’ who are missionaries in Scotland, he is just finishing chemo and cancer treatments and they just found out they are expecting. A little extra for them or their baby would be awesome, then the other half I would take my husband out for dinner and a nice night out. He deserves it too.

I would use it to pay off credit card debt! We’ve been on the cash system since about halfway through our first year of marriage and still trying to pay off the debt we acquired on and after our big move and setting up house for our honeymoon baby. It’s amazing how long what 6-8 months of credit card use takes to pay off when trying to live reasonably with two children in an expensive part of the country. But I heart my envelopes!

We struggle to save enough overall not to mention our fantasy of developing a meaningful college savings plan. So, when we receive cash gifts for the kids or unexpected money…like a surprise $100…we split it between the kids savings accounts to try to help it grow even bit by bit.

Ooo, $100! I seriously don’t know…probably buy my unborn child a dresser/changing table since I don’t think it’s going to be feasible for it to share dressers with my other two kids I’ve seen a couple great used ones on craigslist, just haven’t had the cash to buy one yet.
Thanks for the giveaway, I’ve been eyeing your book already, Crystal!

If I found an extra $100 bill in my pocket, I would use the money to pay down credit card debt. Simple Mom and Money Saving Mom have both been websites that have helped to develop the “less is more” and “no more debt” mentality for me recently. Now to just get my husband on board with the “no more credit cards” rule – he feels that we use credit cards like cash but I still don’t see it.

If $100 showed up in my pocket it would go toward getting settled and organized in our new home. We have been moved in for two weeks and are still finding things that need to be replaced or fixed. Thanks so much for the chance to win!

I have previously “liked” both of you on Facebook and love reading your posts. They are very inspirational to me and I am trying to implement more of your ideas into my daily life. Thank you both for what you do. It means more to me than you will ever know. Keep up the wonderful work!

100 magically in my pocket! I’d use it to pay a babysitter for time away from the kids with my husband. Remember when we made $2 babysitting on weekend nights? Now in my area we usually have to pay $15 an hour. Yikes! A splurge in our home is a night out.

I would give some of it to my two boys to help teach them about saving money, buy a couple of books for me, and put the rest away for something special for the family!! I would love to learn about how to buy everything cash – my house!! And how to get more out of our money!!

I tatally agree with using strictly cash. We started using more cash last year, and didn’t use checks for 6 months. You don’t realize how much you spend with those magic pieces of paper. Our house has tried to start putting more in the jars to cut our spending. If the $100 magically appears in my pocket, I would put it in our special 55 account for semi-retirement.

We just started out total money makeover, so I would put the $100 toward our debt snowball. Yipee, here’s to being debt free and paying cash from now on!!!
Thanks for the post, came at the perfect time for me!

If $100 appeared in my pocket right now, I would have to had it over to the guy I’m about to call to remove the large tree that fell across the driveway last night trapping my 2 year old and I in the house. If it appeared this afternoon, I would treat myself to one large fancy coffee to consume during the peace and quiet of naptime and save the rest!

Wow, if $100 showed up in my wallet, it would go straight to our grocery account. We live on a very meager income, and with my husband out of the country right now, it’s just me and my little girls trying ot make ends meet as best as we can. I would LOVE to have the book to help me become even more creative with my spending and saving!

I like Simple Mom and Money Saving Mom on FB.
I would probably spend $100 right now on clearance or used clothing for the kids for fall/winter next year. I’m about halfway done picking up the needed items to stash away for next year. I’m doing a great job sticking to “needs”.

my husband and I have been getting our finacial crap together for nearly a year now, thanks to Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University, so I’m a total believer in no credit cards. (I haven’t used one since May 2011). That $100.00 would go right toward paying on our debt snowball!

I already like Simple Mom on FB, and also now have just liked Money Saving Mom on FB.

Great post. I’m wondering how Crystal would do something like make a hotel or travel reservation with no credit card? Wow – a surprise $100? Assuming that I HAVE to spend it all: $20 for a decadent dessert-out for my husband and me, $40 for a locally made wood cutting board my sweetie has been eyeing, $20 for a new pair of slippers (they just went on sale!) and I would use the last $20 shopping at my favorite children’s second-hand store.

Hi! I “liked” Money Saving Mom and had already “liked” you on FB! If I found $100 I would use it to go towards the credit card bill that is due today – I am sitting here dreading having to ask my husband if I can take some money out of savings to cover it!

My husband and I have been working on a cash basis for over 6 years now. Getting out of credit debt was difficult (getting in was waaaay tooo easy!).
If we had the extra $100 show up in our pocket book, we’d use 1/2 towards bulk buying of meats 1/4 towards kids shoes (can’t believe they keep growing out and through their shoes!) and the last 1/4 towards an evening of family fun (rent a movie, pop popcorn).

Wow an extra $100. I’d be tempted to spend it on clothes since I just had a baby, am back down to size, and just threw out/gave away all my clothes that didn’t fit or had holes in them. However, I would probably give $10 away and save the rest for this spring when we will be moving into our first home. I know we will have extra expenses then plus decorating wishes.

If a hundred bucks magically appeared in my wallet today, first I’d thank God for His provision. Then I’d spend it on renting a car and gas too go visit my Mama for a few days… She’s on hospice care right now, dying from lung cancer and emphysema, and we’ve been told we only have a few weeks left with her. Hubby and I share a car, so the rental car would allow me to stay with her next week, after he returns home on Sunday to get back to work.

If I found $100 in my pocket, most likely it would mean I somehow managed to put my husband’s pants on… we only do cash also, and he leaves money in his pants all the time, so opening the washing machine at the end of the cycle is always an adventure…

but if it was a true mystery, I would love to just give it away- to pay for someone’s groceries or just bless someone else with it.

I would stash it in my “fun stash”… that’s what I do with unexpected gifts or money – I “hide” it and then when you have that night when you want to do something fun with the hubby and/or kids (and there’s no budgeted $$ for it) – Mom can pull out her “fun stash” and bless everyone!
We have been working on paying down debt for a couple of years (not very enthusiastically – YET) and are now working on a cash only budget. So thanks for the encouragement!!

This was a timely post as my husband and I started the cash system this month. I’m sad to say that we only made it 2 weeks. I needed the reminder for why we started in the first place. I really liked it while it lasted! If I found $100 in my pocket…it would probably end up going to tithe so that we wouldn’t have to stop at the atm on the way to church

I already “like” Simple Mom but I just liked Mom-Saving Mom- thank you for this great article. You said it perfectly- I need the pain of having to hand over the green bills- that is what keeps me from thoughtlessly spending.

Sounds like a great book! $100 mysteriously appears? I’d like to think I’d give it to charity, and I might, but I’d likely spend it gradually on thrift-store clothing or maybe take my family out to eat.

I have been carrying around a $100 bill that I received for Christmas. At first, it was for that something I impulsively want, but can’t justify spending our money on. Now, with my husband laid off, it is the secret stash for groceries or gas or whatever may come up that we actually NEED in between my paychecks. If we can make it without using it, it will go back to the impulse buy for myself.

I would have a ball buying food for our small local food pantry. Today I was able to take them eggs from our chickens and pasta that was on sale at the grocery story. What I would love to be able to give them is MEAT AND FRESH VEGETABLES & FRUITS. It really concerns me that in our small town, in a relatively affluent section of Pennsylvania, this small food pantry serves 40 families.

I am sure that the books are gone already, but I wanted to say ‘What a wonderful article!’ We adopted a lot of the principles you use and I can happily say that we are debt free. Our house is not grand but it is paid for, and our cars are 10 years or older, but they didn’t come with interest! It eases some of the burden from our hearts during periodic layoffs at DH’s company, knowing that we have a bit of a ‘cushion’ while searching for another job.
I think if I were to find an extra $100 I would use it to fund a much belated trip to see my sisters and extended family in California, some of whom I have not seen in nearly 20 years. In addition to funding homeschool with our single income I am scrimping and saving each way I know how, couponing, gardening, learning how to cook more things at home, etc., to go this coming summer. I am sooo looking forward to it!
I already ‘liked’ Simple Mom, but I also ‘liked’ Money Saving Mom on facebook. I look forward to your posts!

If I had $100.00 it would go towards groceries for the month, and then we’d adjust to add more to pay off our debt.
Also wanted to comment, that even though cash can burn a hole in your pocket, credit cards will light your pants on fire.

I’d hire a babysitter and go out with my husband. We are trying to go cash-only and finding that we are way more disorganized with our spending than we thought so I’d love to win a copy of your book!
Thanks!

Oh man, what a great reminder to me! Thanks so much for this encouraging blog entry. If I found a $100 bill I would either, use it to buy a new kitchen faucet…because ours just broke, literally broke off the handle, this morning. Or, I would put it towards paying off our debt -every little bit helps, right?!

I use my credit card like a debit card. With every purchase, I subtract the amount from my checkbook as if it had been debited rather than charged. So there’s always money in the account to pay the bill when it arrives (since in my mind I already paid it and therefore don’t spend beyond that!). I used to use my debit card for tracking purposes, as another commenter mentioned, but then switched to the credit card for consumer protection. I have never in my life owed one penny of credit card debt.

If I were to win $100, I would put it in the fund for paying off our mortgage, which we hope to be able to do in the next 6 months.

I would use $100 to go to Panera and buy several soups for a group and loaves of bread and take them to several of my friends who’ve recently had babies. An already prepared meal is such a blessing when you’re getting adjusted to life with a newborn.

If I found $100 in my wallet I’d use it to buy some grass fed, free-range, hormone and antibiotic free meat at the market, and put some away to help pay for our doula, who will be helping us with the delivery of baby #2.

Well to be honest I love coffee and I am a home school mom but not much of a runner, I do love basketball though! I know 100.00 would be a lot of fun to have in my pocket and buy a lot of coffee( i am very much a coffee lover). What would I do with 100.00 well I really like to see people smile so I would bless someone that I know who gives a lot of time to others, just to see the smile on their faces would be great!

Ooooh…$100 could buy a LOT of fabric and sewing supplies to whip up some skirts for my girls, reusable snack bags, rice pillows for gifts…. I’d be in craft heaven, and saving a ton of money by making stuff myself!

We are going to pay off our mortgage completely this year (within 7 years total) so I would use it towards that OR just give it away to someone who needs it more than I do right now … that would be cool.
Thank you so much for being such inspiration every day, Tsh and Crystal!

Oh, $100 can go so fast. I would like to get a few books and maybe some fabric, but in all likelihood it would just end up being used for little things or groceries throughout the week. We are so frugal in this house that we have to work hard to spend our “fun” money that we receive for gifts, etc.

I’m beefing up my emergency fund since I have uncertainty in my job right now so it would go into my money market account! Exciting, I know but I am a weird one too. When my job stabilizes, whatever is left in there turns into a car replacement fund. So either way, it would be put to a good use!

If $100 randomly showed up in my pocket, I’d put $20 aside for something for me (I really could use some new shoes this Spring), and put $80 aside for Christmas. Alternatively, I might put it all on a share of a cow from a local farmer to assist with my grocery budget. Oh, I love the possibilities!

I’m already a fan of both Simple Mom and Money Saving Mom on facebook. Love you both!!

Hundred dollars in my pocket? I’d probably want to go on a date with my husband at our favorite Italian restaurant. Homemade gelato, anyone? Or I would dump out all my slighted clothes from my closet and buy myself some keepers! Anyone else feel the urge to burn everything in the wardrobe and start over?

Personally, I think that when you have money in your checking account to cover the next month’s credit card bill, always pay the credit card in full & also have a healthy savings account, there are many advantages to using a credit card for purchases. I, too, have never had credit card debt. I’ve always used my credit card like cash and because this is the way I manage my money, I don’t over-spend and my credit card is not problematic.

The giving part of me would buy a rocking chair for a friend (she’s broke but desperately wants one), the responsible part of my says pantry stockpiling or debt payoff (down to three debts including the house) and the adventurous part of me says to finally get a passport – can’t fill it if you don’t have it the realistic part of says from experience though that it would probably be used for a dinner out or a home improvement project though.

With an extra $100.00 I would buy some Silpat mats for baking and 4 cloth training pants for my sons. I do not have any debt to pay off other than our mortgage and I am making an effort to only purchase “extras” that are resusable investment purchases. We started to cloth diaper our youngest about a month ago with the diapers we recieved for Christmas gifts and now I would love to stop buying the even-more-expensive diapers for our 3-year-old’s nap and bedtimes.

Finding $100 dollars would be awesome! Especially since my employer made a mistake on my tax slip last year – and I just received a notice from the tax man (2 days ago!) that I owe $110!! Ugh. I’m on month 7 of a 2 year-care & nurturing leave from work to spend time with our 3 year old – so, no money coming in for me…Luckily hubs is awesome. I am enjoying my “simplifying life” journey. Thank you for all the great posts and awesome books Tsh!

If I had a $100 bill magically appear in my pocket, I would use it to take my family to Red Lobster tomorrow (Sat. Jan. 21). It’s my birthday and instead of gifts we usually do a nice dinner, and Red Lobster is the family’s favorite place to eat. However, this year we don’t have the money, so my birthday dinner will probably be hamburger helper. Maybe next year!

Very interesting post! I never had a credit card either, until I started buying things online and needed one for safety purposes. That is all it is used for though, and it is truly used as cash. I hate it though, I like to go pay it several times a month sometimes!

If $100 appeared in my pocket, I would most likely spend it on something for the house, like replacing my end tables or paying for educational classes for the boys.

I would give it to CARITAS, a local organization that provides year round shelter for families and individuals who are homeless.

We use cash for all of our non-bill expenses (groceries, etc.) and it makes a huge difference in sticking to a budget. We have one credit card that only gets used if we have the cash to pay it off that month; and then we use online bill paying for the big stuff (mortgage, insurance, etc.). My Mom used to use what she called the “can method” – each can had cash for one part of the budget and we learned that when it was gone, it was gone – a lesson that’s served me well.

Dave Ramsey’s books point out that even using a debit card will cause you to spend more money than if you use cash. It all has to do with the mentality. When you are forking over $20 bills, it actually triggers a painful sensation in your brain. But there’s a disconnect when you’re using a plastic card.

If I instantly found $100 in my pocket I would have to say $10 would go to church and the remainder would go towards our baby fund. We recently found out we are expecting again and would love to start saving up for the few things we need to replace this time around!

I HAVE $100 in my pocket, well, ok, in my wallet – we got a $100 gift card from my employer for Christmas, and I STILL can’t decide where to spend it. So it sits there. I usually end up spending it on something for the kids (we have 3) or for the house. Just how it usually works out!

I’d probably try to save the $100 – I’m terrible at saving, so am trying to tuck extra cash and change into a ceramic pot on the bookshelf to hopefully get the hang of it – out of sight – out of mind, right?!

If I had $100, it would be a huge blessing right now. We just found out my husband’s dad is dying. He lives in Bulgaria. We need to get over there & see him soon! Unfortunately, my husband’s Bulgarian passport is expired, so he has to drive or fly down from Portland to Los Angeles & apply for a passport renewal. We need $$ for the passport, the trip to LA, and 3 tickets to Bulgaria, a total cost of over $3000. We do not use credit cards for anything, and our emergency savings has been depleted due to unemployment. So $100 would be a huge help!

If I had $100 I would spend some on groceries and then try and save the rest. It is a goal of mine to have money left over from one paycheck to the next and it hardly happens… I might also use a couple dollars for gas!

If I were to find $100 in my pocket, first of all I’d praise God from Whom all blessings flow!! Second of all, I’d deposit it into the bank and immediately mail out a payment to the credit card company. I know. Sad but true. Doing everything we can to become debt-free and better stewards of what we’ve been provided. I could sure use a copy of this book for the motivation, encouragement, and lessons to be learned!

I do. My paycheck isn’t directly deposited though, so I just go deposit it, then withdraw the amount of cash I need for our grocery and eating out budgets at that point (plus a little blow money). Which is more inconvenient – a 5-minute stop at the bank each payday, or spending a couple hundred dollars more each payday with a credit card than if you had cash in hand? I promise you – when we were paying for eating out with a debit card, we always went past our pre-determined budget. With cash, it’s so much easier to just look in the envelope and say, “Well, we’ve only got $30 left until the next paycheck. How badly do we want to eat out tonight?”

You didn’t ask me specifically but yes, that’s what we do and it has dramatically decreased our debt. It’s only slightly inconvenient, I go through the drive-thru, write a check for cash, tell them what denominations I want and into my cash envelopes it goes, I’m usually out to the grocery store at least that often anyway.

If I found $100.. well, first I would do a happy dance and shout THANK YOU JESUS!!! Because, honestly, when does that ever happen?!?!? Then I would probably talk it over with my husband. He would say, first let’s give God, His part, then slap it on our bills. We are doing the Dave Ramsey get out of debt plan! So, that money would get us one step closer to our goal, DEBT FREE! (can’t wait to shout that….)

Kudos to Crystal! We got rid of our credit cards a few years ago, so our only debt is my car (the day my old one’s mechanic bill cost twice the actual worth of the car, we decided we were okay going into debt again to get a more reliable car!), my student loans (working on my master’s…), and the house. We have a plan to pay off the car before our first baby arrives in June. So, with an extra $100…

I would either put it towards paying off the car a little earlier, or I would save it for purchases for the baby. Or maybe maternity clothes for me – I’m in desperate need of pants!

Great article – cash give you the ouchie feeling when you spend it so you really have to want/need the items you are buying!

I would break up the $100 into 4 parts, $25 for fun money (things are tight right now and I have cut back on my ‘blow’ money), $25 for savings, $25 for a few ‘new to us’ toys for my son and $25 to add to my grocery stockpile.

I would use the $100 bill to pay for my college textbook that I just ordered from Amazon.com. Teamed with $10 in Swagbucks credit, I can get my needed school supplies for less! I’m 3 or 4 courses away from finishing my Master’s Degree (hooray!) and want to finish it by incurring no debt whatsoever.

at the moment if $100 just showed up, i would like to say i would save it, but if i am honest, i would want to spend it on clothing since i am about to give birth to baby #3. i would want to buy a few new things for the post baby body i will have for a while! : )

If a 100.00 dollalr bill mysteriously showed up in my pocket, I would use it to buy your book and Crystal’s book. Because the knowledge that I would gain from those books would triple my savings and help me to keep 100.00 dollar bills in my pocket in the future. I follow both You & Crystal on Facebook & just signed up for your email newsletters. Thank You : )

I would probably buy Crystal’s book and use it to start the cash system. I’ve been toying with the idea as resources are becoming tighter and tighter. Plus I hate entering the receipts in my bookkeeping. If I knew x amount went towards groceries, gas etc… every month it would save me a lot of time and hassle.

If I found $100 in my pocket, I would take all five of my kids (ages 1 year to 16 years), give them each $20 and have them open up their own savings account. They would wreak total chaos at the bank, eat all of their lollypops and jellybeans, knock over all of the elderly, scatter the pamphlets and get themselves tangled up in the ribbon barriers, BUT they will have their very own little savings account. And they are so cute that nobody would even mind that they set the place on fire and burned it down (just kidding, they aren’t all THAT bad!).

So exciting to see this post! We are only 3 weeks into our cash only lifestyle and it has been an amazing experience so far. $100? Put it in to our savings. Thanks to cash only spending and budgeting we have a savings account now! With money in it!

If I had $100 mysteriously appear in my purse I would probably treat our family to a nice supper (so I would not have to cook!) and with any left over I would ration it so I could “treat” myself to a latte every now and then until it is gone.

If a $100 bill mysteriously appeared in my pocket I would praise the Lord! Whahoo! I’d be soooo tempted to use it all on a want, but then remember that God put it there for such a time as this. I’d evaluate if there was a need in our finances that should be covered with it. Perhaps the Christmas Miracle offering we had said if God provided for us in an unusual way, then we would give it to Him. Otherwise, I would hope that I would deposit it so I don’t spend it just because it’s there!

If I found $100 I’d put it in the checking acct. It would simply go into the “big” pot. If it was a good month with no surprises, it would go from the checking account to the savings account at the end of the month.

I’d put the money in the bank and it would likely be there for my children or grandchildren to spend. I have learned the art of living frugally. I have not learned the art of rewarding oneself. Most people budget so they’ll spend less money on “luxuries”. We have to budget to spend some on them.

Found out we had corroded pipes and need the whole house re-piped. Thank goodness we started a small emergency fund so we could pay most of the bill in cash. That $100, though, would be a joyous find, though!

We are a cash-only family, although we do have debit cards (which I still consider cash, since the money automatically comes out of our account). This is one of those lessons we learned the hard way & are still paying off credit cards from at least 5 years ago. We went through Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace class (three times!) and it was truly life-changing for us & I hope that our kids have learned from our mistakes.

If I had $100 dollars it would go in our envelope for unexpected expenses as I have adopted an envelope, pay cash only system thanks to Crystal and all her advice on moneysavingmom.com. My husband scoffed at me at first but now he is on board and we want to teach our 4 daughters that we will only pay cash for something if we have it and it is budgeted for the month. Credit cards have cost us too much over the years-too easy to spend more than we have!!

And if I had $100 mysteriously appear, I would probably go get the kids new shoes, since 2 of the boys have toes poking through the tops of their shoes!! Any money left over would go for my school & supplies – I’m currently in nursing school.

I have to disagree with the article’s premise: I’ve had credit cards since college, and I have never had credit card debt. I use one card regularly, it gets paid off every month, and we don’t spend more than we have. It is possible to use credit purely for the benefits and never pay fees or interest.

If an extra $100 showed up in my pocket today, I would put the money on a gift card (to a grocery store or discount store) for my Mom. She lives in another city and is on a fixed income, and I have always wished I had enough money to be able to send her $100 each month to help her buy food.